The Berenbaum Lab
Sex and gender matter
Tweens 2 Teens
How is gender influenced by social factors?
In 2010, we began studying a new group of girls with CAH during the transition to adolescence (ages 10-13 years) in the Tweens to Teens (T2T) Project. We are very grateful to the girls and their families for their time and help in this study.
We did extensive and intensive assessment of 55 girls with CAH, including non-classical and classical CAH. We wanted to know about the girls’ interests, activities, attitudes, feelings, and abilities, and about their parents’ interests, activities, and attitudes. To obtain this information, we visited the girls in their homes for a 3-hour interview, asked the girls and their parents to complete questionnaires, talked to the girls and their parents on the telephone for seven nights, and had the girls complete some questionnaires and solve some puzzles online. We also collected some information from their siblings without CAH.
We are looking to expand our research on the career interests of girls with CAH, by also looking into their socialization. We asked the mothers of the girls in T2T about girls' abilities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mechanics), and about their daughters' abilities as well. We think that mothers may play a role in influencing their daughters interests and self-confidence. Differences in how these mothers view their daughters' capabilities may explain why not all girls with Classical CAH go into STEM careers despite early interest in STEM subjects in school.
We are examining how development is shaped by the interplay of biological predispositions and social experiences. We focus on the ways in which parents socialize girls with CAH, particularly in relation to the girls’ early exposure to androgens (indexed by the form of CAH they have).
So far we've found that girls with Classical and Non-Classical both feel good about being girls, and think that girls are just as capable as boys in the areas of Math and Science. Though girls with Classical CAH are more engaged in male-typed activities, they are just as likely as their counterparts with Non-Classical to spend time with other girls.
A special thanks to the CARES Foundation for their help in recruiting families for this study. For more information on how this organization promotes education and supports families and individuals with CAH, visit their website.
.png)
Click here to go to CARES website